Discovery Eye Foundation

The Discovery Eye Foundation created the Macular Degeneration Partnership program to raise awareness of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), educate patients about the disease and provide support and resources to them and their families. The overall mission of Discovery Eye Foundation is to support research, education and advocacy related to sight-threatening eye diseases and their treatments, improving the quality of life for patients and their families.

We're An All Star!

By Judith Delgado - Executive Director

The Macular Degeneration Partnership just won an award from Constant Contact - we're an "All Star"! The AMD Update Newsletter won this recognition because of how often we send out the newsletter - and by how many people open it. This is the second year in a row MDP has received this honor.

February was National AMD and Low Vision Month in the U.S. and elsewhere.

It was a great opportunity to remind everyone about the importance of dilated eye exams and of the wonderful resources available to people with limited vision.

Give Your Sight a Hand was promoted throughout the month, in our newsletter and in the Outlook newsletter from the National Eye Institute. This campaign reminds people to check one eye at a time. You may never notice a vision problem otherwise. Both your eyes work together to give you the very best vision, possibly masking a vision problem in one eye.

In March, an ad for Give Your Sight a Hand was run in the Vision Supplement to USA Today. We offered everyone a free magnetic Amsler Grid to use to check vision one eye at a time. If you haven't gotten yours yet, call us!

March is also National Nutrition Month and we focused on the impact of diet on AMD. Folks who eat lots of fruits and vegetables and fish get less macular degeneration. Dark green leafy vegetables pack the most nutrition and fish like salmon and mackerel are good choices for high levels of omega-3. At our support groups, we handed out healthy recipes and a list of lutein rich raw foods.

Heartfelt Thanks from Seniors You Have Helped

By Judith Delgado - Executive Director

When you donated to Discovery Eye Foundation for Macular Degeneration, you received a thank you note from us, of course. Because we appreciate your contribution.

I wish you could hear the thankful voices I hear everyday. They are so grateful for our support and help and you are a part of that. These are seniors who are facing the challenges of losing vision to age-related macular degeneration. Because of you, when they found us, they received help that made a difference.

Here is what they said:

I thank you so very much for your helpful information--it has been the most practical and helpful that I have found.

You have given me hope and what a difference it's made in my attitude. My vision is so very precious to me and I pray daily for a cure.

Thank you again, I do feel better about the whole thing now that I know more about it.

First of all thank you so much for sending your message in such large type that it is sooo easy to read.

In the coming year, we are redesigning our website to make it more accessible. It's in large print already, but we're adding a Voice Reader feature so that visitors can listen to the information as well.

Your support is making this possible and we thank you so much for your help.

Happy Holidays to you and yours,

Judi DelgadoExecutive DirectorMacular Degeneration Partnership

Nov 7, 2012

Give Your Sight a Hand!

By Judi Delgado - Executive Director

Give Your Sight a Hand

The campaign continues!

With your help, "Give Your Sight a Hand" was a huge success at the AARP Event and Expo. We are continuing to build momentum with every support group, every seminar, every health fair.

We're doing this to save vision! Your two eyes work together so beautifully that something could be wrong in one eye and you would never notice it - unless you close one eye at a time!

Do it now.

Cover your left eye and look at something familiar with the right eye. Does anything look distorted or blurry? Then cover your right eye and look with your left eye. If you see vision changes, call the eye doctor and get those peepers checked.

Even better, go to our website and print the Amsler Grid that is there. Focus on the black dot in the center - all the lines should be straight and nothing should be missing. Distorted lines are an early warning sign of macular degeneration.

Don't forget to sign up for our email newsletter before this weekend. I'll be reported on the most recent research in AMD directly from the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting. Don't miss it.

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